A Simple Spring

Boy and girl wake up next to each other, she, having to extricate herself from his grasp as she gets up to stretch and him, reticent to leave bed. A kettle is put on in the kitchen; they have a cup of tea while eating toast with home-made jam. Seeing that the jam is almost finished, they smile at each other and know what to do…They move outside and take in the mid-morning sunshine. She takes a deep breath and smells thyme and rosemary growing in the front yard. He inhales a sense of calm and sneaks a smile as she’s on bended knee, examining the first growth of a rose bud. Taking each other’s hand, they proceed to walk down a path, marvelling at the clearest of blue skies and warmth of early spring. A sparrow tends to its young up in a tree and the world seems to stop moving. Nothing else is important. It is their surroundings, it is their hearts aflutter, it is them…Walking deeper into the forest, rays of sunlight pierce through and touch ground, as a butterfly’s multi-coloured imprint is accentuated in the brightness. Finally they reach their mysterious destination and come upon a plant unlike any other. It is somehow able to grow raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, boisonberries, and blackberries, all on its relatively few branches. Happy at the sight of this wonderful and surreal piece of nature, he begins to pick some of the berries as she unwraps a loin cloth to put them in. Laughing as they pick and eat them, he comes in for an unexpected kiss, her blushing cheeks matching the vibrant red shade of the raspberries. They start to go back to the house, but not before they each give thanks in their heads. He for the Caribbean-blue water starkness of her eyes. She for the crimson-red hue that adorns his lips. Both of them for their one-of-a-kind tree and moreover, each other.